Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, kills so many villains in 2008's Taken. In the film, Bryan travels to Paris to rescue his daughter from an unidentified cabal of human traffickers. It's quickly revealed that Bryan is not any ordinary father desperately struggling to find his child, he’s ex-CIA and ex-Green Beret with skills in interrogation, detection, and combat. Taken puts a twist on the action hero formula by changing the protagonist from a young, strong type to an over-the-hill father who seems to have made some personal mistakes in his past. He isn't a bad man, but he’s distant from his family and out of the picture.
In a role he has become typecast for post-Taken, Liam Neeson plays Bryan as a man stoic on the outside but seething inside. The further Bryan gets to finding his daughter the more cracks form in his facade until he’s no longer holding back his rage and committing horrific acts to rescue Kim Mills, played by Maggie Grace. Taken is rated PG-13 which is a bit of a surprise after seeing how many people Bryan kills and tortures in brutal ways. The camera generally cuts away from the worst of the acts, but there is an exceptionally large body count in the film for only one man to cause.
Bryan's Kill Count In Taken Explained
Bryan Mills is not in Paris for long as he needs to find Kim within 96 hours or she will be long gone, but in that time, slasher villain’s kill count than an action hero’s. The men he kills in a variety of ways are not innocent, but it doesn’t make their deaths much easier to watch. Bryan is uncompromising in his pursuit of Kim and the lengths he goes to get the information he needs gives an unsettling insight into what the special forces soldier turned celebrity bodyguard once did on a regular basis.
Villains are dispatched through gunfire, strangulation, and even electrocution as Bryan uses whatever tool he can get his hands on. As a one-man army, Bryan is the only one capable and with the incentive to kill those responsible for Kim’s abduction. It’s clear that this human trafficking ring has been operating for years judging by the imprisoned women and the casualness of the sales process. Bryan’s ability to get the drop on everyone is one of the reasons Taken is one of Liam Neeson’s most satisfying movies. The villains don’t expect to be confronted for their crimes so when Bryan comes on the screen everyone is caught off-guard.
How Taken's Kill Count Compares To Its Sequels
Taken has a much higher kill count for Bryan than either of its sequels, Taken 2 (23) and Taken 3 (10). Unlike in the first film, where he’s a trigger-happy vigilante desperate to get his daughter, his motive in the sequel is to escape along with his ex-wife and in the third film, find out who framed him for the death of his ex-wife. When Bryan isn’t influenced by the peril of his daughter, he is a much less violent man, though still capable of killing anyone who poses a threat to him or his family, but his caution after the first film leads to a lower kill count.
